The Worland Family in America and Beyond

I began my life in the Puget Sound area of Washington State, on an island filled with forests and wild rhododendrons. I was separated from my Worland family there at an early age. Recently, I was reunited with my family and learned of my heritage. And so, this journey to know my ancestors began. The Worlands, Gideons, Newtons, Conards... they were the colonists, the settlers, the pioneers. They fought in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War. This is their story, and the story of a nation. -Deci Worland MacKinnon

Saturday, January 25, 2014

On this day, January 25.

January 25, 1533 - Henry VIII of England secretly marries Anne Boleyn.
The second wife of King Henry VIII of England and mother of Queen Elizabeth I.
The events surrounding the annulment of Henry's marriage to his first wife,
Catherine of Aragon, and his marriage to Anne led him to break with the Roman
Catholic church and brought about the English Reformation.
Anne's father was Sir Thomas Boleyn, later Earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde.
After spending part of her childhood in France, she returned to England in 1522
and lived at Henry's court and drew many admirers. A desired marriage with Lord
Henry Percy was prevented on Henry's order by Cardinal Wolsey, and at some
undetermined point the king himself fell in love with her.
In 1527 Henry initiated secret proceedings to obtain an annulment from his
wife, the aging Catherine of Aragon; his ultimate aim was to father a legitimate
male heir to the throne. For six years Pope Clement VII, under pressure from
Henry's rival Charles V, refused to grant the annulment, but all the while
Henry's passion for Anne was strengthening his determination to rid himself of
his queen. On January 25, 1533, Henry and Anne were secretly married. She soon became pregnant and, to legalise the first wedding considered to be unlawful at the time, there was a second wedding service, also private in accordance with The Royal Book. The
union was made public on Easter of that year, and on May 23 Henry had the
archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, pronounce the marriage to Catherine
null and void. In September Anne gave birth to a daughter, the future queen
Elizabeth I.
Anne's arrogant behaviour soon made her unpopular at court. Although Henry
lost interest in her and began liaisons with other women, the birth of a son
might have saved the marriage. Anne had a miscarriage in 1534, and in January
1536 she gave birth to a stillborn male child. On May 2, 1536, Henry had her
committed to the Tower of London on a charge of adultery with various men and
even incest with her own brother. She was tried by a court of peers, unanimously
convicted, and beheaded on May 19. On May 30 Henry married Jane Seymour. That
Anne was guilty as charged is unlikely; she was the apparent victim of a
temporary court faction supported by Thomas Cromwell.

January 25, 1648- My tenth great granduncle, George Lawton, is granted 40 acres near his brother Thomas in Portsmouth, Newport, Rhode Island.